You’re gonna hear about it in the news anyway, may as well spill it myself. Got stuck in a storm on the summit of mt. Hood. Stuck on cliffs over 10,000′ in a white out. Called 911 after several hours of trying to self rescue. Search and rescue has been notified. Wish me luck!

Thirty minutes later, he posted a screenshot to Facebook with his GPS coordinates and the message “Ok guys, I have no idea where I am, other than right on the edge of some gnarly cliff. Too far east or west?”

The Oregonian newspaper reported search and rescuers used the coordinate info, along with phone calls to Kish, as they set out to find him. They ended up at the bottom of a cliff, and saw Kish at the top.

Portland Mountain Rescue spokesman Mark Morford told the newspaper “but for him having a cellphone, it’s highly improbable that we would have found him.”

Kish, who had previously hiked the length of the Pacific Crest Trail, posted a lengthy version of the events Thursday afternoon. He admitted “things got really bad for me up there.” He concluded:

“I must admit I was getting pretty scared toward the end of my wait for rescue, but in the end, I still maintain – you can’t let fears dictate the way you live your life. The biggest rewards always come with some risk.”